eagan



E. L. EAGAN RAILWAY TRACK JACK Apr-i129, 1924. I 1,492,021-

Filed Oct. 22, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 BLEAEAN' WW-M1 as a April 29, 19240 E. L. EAGAN RAILWAY TRACK JACK Filed Oct. 22 1923 Patented Apr. 29, 1924.

EDWARD L. BAG-AN, 0F DANVILLE, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-TRACK JACK.

Application flied October 22, 1923. Serial No. 670,139.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. EAGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing atDanville, in the county of Vermilionand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Track Jacks; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is required by railway regulations, that jacks used to lift track rails for repair work, shall be placed at the outer side of the rail being lifted, so that if the jack should be struck by a train, it will merely be'knocked aside and there will be no danger of derailingthe train. When the jack is placed in the required manner, for instance, when working on a fill, the track-hand operating the jack, must often stand on insecure footing at the side of the track and he cannot therefore'operatethe jack at all easily.

' It is the principal aim of my invention to provide an improved form of jack which will comply with regulations but is provided with an operating lever which may be extended inwardly from the rail beinglifted, permitting the operator to stand on i the solid footing between the rails whenever advisable, instead of standing at the outerside of the track. Provision is made however to allow the operating lever to -extend in the usual outward direction, when it'is dangerone for the operator to stand between the rails, for instance, on a foggy day when approaching trainscannot be seenuntil dangerously near.

Another aim is to provide a jackwhich may be operated with anmordinaryfltrack wrench instead of requiring a special lever, thereby decreasing the amount of equipment which the track-hands must carry from place to place alongthe track.

With the foregoing in View, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, the description being supplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is, a rear elevation partly broken away and in section showing the improved jack.

Figure 2 is a side elevation. F1gure3 illustrates a transverse sectional view through a railway track showing the manner of using the jack with its operating lever extending toward the center of the track.

Figure 4 is a complete rear edge elevation.

Figure 5 is a central vertical'longitudinal sectional view with parts in elevation.

Figure 6 is a detail vertical section illustrating themanner in which the pawls may be lgeleased from the toothed shank of the ae Figures 7 and 8 are perspective views of the two pawls.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the oscillating carrying member for the pawls.

Figure 10 is a detail sectional view asindicated by line 1010 of Fig. 6.

Figure 11 is a perspective View of the oscillating operating member for the pawl mechanism, which is in the present instance operated by an ordinary track wrench.

In the drawings above briefly described, which illustrate the preferred form of construction, the numeral 1 designates a standard having the usual hollow foot 2 for insertion under a rail to be lifted, said standard being provided with a straight uninterrupted edge 3 for contact with the outer side of the rail, asshown in Fig. 8. At its upper end, the standard 1 is provided with two projecting frame-like portions 4 which extend from the edge of said standard remote from the edge 3, the two projections l being preferably connected by a suitable handle 5. 'An ordinary toothed jack shank 6 is slidably mounted in the standard 1 and is provided at its lower end with the usualraillifting foot 7 which extends from the edge 3. A pair of gravity-applied pawls 8 and 9 co-operate with the teeth of the shank 6 and are pivotally supported by a carrying lever" 10 which is pivoted at 11 between the lower ends of the projections 4, the pivot or fulcrum 11 being between the pivots of the pawls 8 and 9,7so that as one pawl moves downwardly, the other moves upwardly. An angular arm 12 is shown extending outwardly from the lower pawl 9, with its outer end in spaced relation with a rigid post 13 extending from one side of the jack standard 1, so that by placing a track wrench or other suitable device between the arm and post, the pawl 9 may be released and this pawl maybe forced against the pawl '10 to in turn release the latter. 7 If. desired, the upperend of the pawl 8 may be provided with a releasing link 14 of any suitable form. The pawls are preferably mounted upon the carrying lever 10, in the manner illustrated in Figs. to inclusive, but other mount.- ings could be used if desired.

An oscillatory operating member 15 is suitably mounted at 15 between the upper ends of the projecting standard portions 4" and this operating member is connected with the pawl mechanism, in any suitable manner, for instanceby a link 16 pivoted, at one end to said operating member and pivoted at its other end to the lever 10. It may here also be stated that pawl mechanisms other than'that shown, may be used and-operated by the member 15. The link 16' preferably depends from the inner end of the operating member 10 and theouter orupper end of the latter is provided with a lateral extension 17 which projects in a direction parallel with the pivot 15. In the construction shown, the extension 17 is formed with opposite fiat sides 18 which permit said extension to be received between the jaws'of an ordinary, track wrench 19, the handle of this wrench being preferably extended by a piece of pipe or the like,-.as indicated at 20; Oh-

viously, the wrench 19 or other handlever i which may be associated with the operating member 15. may extend over the track, even though the jack is properly positioned at the outer side of one of theltrack rails as indicated in Fig. 3, thus permitting theoperator to stand on solid footing, which allows him to operate the jack much more easily.

Whenever it is inadvisable to stand between the rails however, the wrench 19 or its equivalent, may be extended outwardly from the tointerfere in no manner with raising therail to any desired extent, and the" lever 19 may be extended from the operating member 15 of the pawl mechanism, beyond the first named edge of the jack standard, or in the opposite directionif desired.

'The construction of the device is rather simple and comparatively inexpensive, yet

it will be seen that such construction is a' they may be followed, but within the scope of theinvention as claimed, changes may be made, it being obvious that the invention may be embodied in numerous forms.

1 claim:

1. A railway track jack comprising a standard having a straight uninterrupted edge toabut the outer side of a rail, a shank slidablyassociated with said standard and having the usual rail-lifting foot extending beyond said edge, shank-lifting pawl'mechanism at the edge of the standard opposite said foot, and an operating lever for said pawl mechanism extending from the latter beyond the first named edge of said standard to'permit the operator'tc stand be tweenthe rails. r

2. A railway track jack' comprising a standard having a straight uninterrupted edge to abut the outer side of a rail, a shank slidably' associated with said standard and havin the usual rail-lifting foot extending beyon said edge, shank-lifting pawl mechanism at the edge of the standard opposite said foot, and a hand-lever extensible beyond either of said edges of the standard for operating said pawl mechanism.

3. A railway track jack comprising a standard having. a straight uninterrupted edge to abut the outer side of a rail, a shank slidably associated with said standard and having the usual rail-lifting foot extending beyond said edge, shank-lifting pawl mechanism at the edge of the'standard opposite side of the standard, and an operating lever engage'able with said projection and extensible beyondeither of the aforesaid edges of the standard.

4-. A railway trackgjack comprising a standard having a straight uninterrupted edge to abut the outer side of a rail, a shank slidably associated with said standard and having the usual rail-lifting foot extending beyond said edge, shank-lifting pawl mechanism at the edge of the standard opposite said foot, said pawl mechanism having an' oscillatory operating member provided with a portion extending laterally beyond one side of the standard, to be engaged by an I operating lever.

, 5. Ajstructure as specified in claim 4;; said laterally extending portion of said operating member having opposite parallel sides to permit reception in a track wrench.

6. A 'railway track jack comprising a I standard having an uninterrupted edgefor contact with the outer side of rail,

the opposite edge of said standardhaving a projecting portion at its upperend, a shank slidable in said standard and having the usual rail lifting-foot extending from the first named edge thereof, shank-lifting pawl mechanism mounted in said projecting'portion of the standard, and a. pivoted operating member for said pawl mechanism mounted in said projecting portion of the standard, said operating member extending above said projecting portion of said standard and having a flat-sided projection above said projecting portion and extending in a direction parallel with the pivot of said operating member for engagement by a track Wrench to operate the jack while the 10 t operator stands either'at the outer or the inner side of either track-rail.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto aflixed my signature.

EDWARD L. EAGAN. 

